Mayan apocalypse: 100 places to see before the end of the world - part three

There are few cities more blessed with their geography than Cape Town, South
Africa’s second biggest city, jutting out at the Cape of Good Hope. Sir
Francis Drake described it thus: “This cape is the most stately thing and
the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.” A few
centuries later, its appeal still lingered, with Charles Darwin describing
it as “a pretty and singular town.”

Those charms live on today, with the city known as one of the most energetic,
friendly and beautiful cities on the continent.Table Mountain is the one
sight not to miss. As our Cape Town expert Pippa De Bruyn puts it: “You
haven’t truly understood the scope of Cape Town until you’ve ascended Table
Mountain and seen the city sprawled below, dwarfed as much by the steep
mountain slopes as the huge expanse of ocean and sky.” Handy tip: There is a
cable car if you are feeling lazy.